Services & Specialty Centers

Center for Advanced Orthopedics

Did you know that one in seven Americans has a musculoskeletal impairment?

South Nassau stands at the forefront of advances in musculoskeletal care, offering the latest in minimally invasive orthopedic surgical procedures.

Under the direction of Dr. Craig Levitz, South Nassau's Center for Advanced Orthopedics has surgically repaired more knees and shoulders using minimally invasive surgery than many other prestigious hospitals in New York.

The Center is one of the first of its kind in the Northeast to commit to use minimally invasive and arthroscopic surgical technology to repair common and sometimes even complex musculoskeletal injuries. Using an arthroscopic approach, a surgeon can complete an operation in less than an hour with surgical tools that require incisions of less than one centimeter to be inserted in the joint. Most arthroscopic surgeries can be performed on an outpatient basis. Knee and shoulder injuries repaired at the Center include torn cartilage and anterior cruciate, posterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in the knee as well as instability, impingement, rotator cuff or labrum tears and recurrent dislocations of the shoulder.

Almost all of our surgeries are performed minimally invasively, which means:

• No big, ugly scars.
• Less post-operative pain - patients are usually up and around the same day.
• Quicker recovery, with rehab taking about one month - rather than several months with open surgery.

This leading-edge approach is part of our comprehensive orthopedic care program, which includes:

• Groundbreaking techniques for repairing knee cartilage via carticel therapy and meniscal transplants, and new cartilage studies for osteochondial defects
• The latest advances in hip replacement surgery
• Specialized expertise in adult reconstruction, foot and ankle injuries, pediatric orthopedics, as well as hand and upper extremities
• The Pain Management Center, which uses a multidisciplinary approach to effectively diagnose and treat chronic pain
• State-of-art physical rehabilitation and sports medicine programs that promote short-term and long-term health and wellness

To read more about the Institute's chief physicians, click here.

To schedule an appointment, call 866-32-ORTHO [(866) 326-7846].

Long Island Joint Replacement Institute™

This year, 600,000 adults in the United States will have a hip or knee replaced. By 2030, it is estimated that the total number of knee and hip replacements will rise to more than 4 million.

Driving the anticipated surge in joint replacement surgeries is a combination of factors, including the graying of the population; the short- and long-term success of joint replacements; longer life expectancy; and the obesity epidemic. South Nassau’s Long Island Joint Replacement Institute (SM) offers a multidisciplinary team of experts that guides patients through personalized treatment options and recovery. Our custom-tailored treatment options relieve patients from the debilitating pain and lifestyle restrictions caused by joints damaged by overuse, repetitive injury and osteoarthritis.

The Institute’s surgeons specialize in custom-fitted total joint replacement surgery as well as minimally invasive joint replacement surgery, including the Birmingham Hip™ Resurfacing technique, the Uni-Knee® partial knee replacement and image-guided knee replacement. Minimally invasive joint replacement reduces trauma to the surrounding tissue, blood loss during surgery, post-operative pain and recovery time; and that leads to a faster rehabilitation and return to daily activities.

The target length of a hospital stay for patients treated by the Long Island Joint Replacement Institute is three days or less, well below the national average. The Institute, which also offers sports medicine, combines image-guided medical technology with minimally invasive knee replacement instrumentation. Reconstruction of the foot and ankle following an injury, pediatric orthopedics, hand and upper extremity surgery, meniscus cartilage transplantation and Carticel Therapy to correct recurring knee cartilage injuries are also performed at the Institute.

To read more about the Institute's chief physicians, click here.

To learn more about the total joint replacement class & pre-register, click here.

To schedule an appointment, call 888-91-REPLACE [(888) 917-3752].

The Shoulder Center

Do you experience chronic shoulder pain or stiffness? Do you struggle to rotate your arm? Feel like your shoulder could pop out of its socket? Lack the strength in your shoulder to carry out your daily activities? If you answered "yes" to one or more of these questions, you should contact The Shoulder Center at South Nassau for a consultation.

Under the direction of Craig Levitz, MD, the physician team of the Shoulder Center at South Nassau diagnoses common and complex shoulder injuries and repairs them using the latest minimally invasive surgical techniques. Unlike traditional open surgery, minimally invasive procedures such as those used by the Shoulder Center’s physicians reduce trauma and scarring to surrounding tissues, result in less blood loss and post-operative pain and promote a quicker recovery. Our fellowship-trained sports medicine specialists have extensive experience in torn rotator cuffs, frozen shoulders and recurrent dislocations. To make an appointment, call The Shoulder Center at South Nassau’s Center for Advanced Orthopedics at (866) 32-ORTHO.